"Sociopath is someone who rejects societal norms"?

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That's what one of my co-workers just said!



Some background on these two. I work with two good ole boys. They are both really really NT: fake smile, strong handshake, false enthusiasm when they meet someone new, rushing off to grab whatever shiny new crap the society is pushing this month, pretty ignorant but they come off very very confident so no one knows.

I'm sure this group understands what I'm talking about. Two divorces a piece and one of them working on a third, evangelical christians, church, bible study, boy scouts, blah blah. They keep pretending they live perfect lives, when in reality they are wrapped up in their own issues and hypocrisy so tight they are basically like a spring just about ready to fail.

They often talk about their problems behind closed doors, citing bible passages which are supposed to help with whatever perceived issues they are facing. (Apparently the “devil will come to get” yours truly. I’d love to see that!) Their moral compasses are, naturally, calibrated according to some 2000 year old desert scribbling.

Today they discussed women. The conversation was extremely chauvinist and more bible passages were quoted. One of them, presumably discussing something his wife had said or done, said: “Sociopath is someone who rejects societal norms”.

The original thinkers are sociopaths? Philosophers are sociopaths? Scientists travelling down new paths, surrounded by skeptics and ridicule, are sociopaths? Galileo? Da Vinci?

I didn’t say anything. How could I? I can’t fix a lifetime of ignorance in one conversation.

So far I’ve… tolerated them. I’ve kept a certain professional relationship with them. That ends today.

/Very unhappy and shocked Dilbert

I can't stand people like that.. completely ignorant, assume they're right about everything and are hostile to anyone and anything that isn't exactly like them. I doubt they understand what a sociopath is in the first place.. not that they care.. they sound like the kind of people who say Hitler is a socialist because the Nazis were the "Nationalist Socialist" party. For some people it isn't about being right, but being as obnoxious and entitled as possible

Yeah, I've run across that type too. Never very pleasant. Since it seems they frequently quote Bible verses, I would have been tempted to say something like: so, Jesus was a sociopath, according to your definition? (Disclaimer: in reality this is what I would wish I would have said a few hours later when I'm thinking about it. It's very unlikely I would actually saw anything, but I can totally identify with the ignorant statements bothering you).

alot of people I know of use that definition, so Ive come to the point of I just dont care. Why follow a society that is beyond all ******* hope anyways.

Yes, I know the type.

Anyway, they were incorrect. A sociopath is a person who has the uncanny ability to appear normal and even outgoing, yet the complete inability to feel empathy for other individuals to the extent that they have no conscience what so ever, and all of their good deeds, if any, are done for some underlying self serving purpose.

They do not perceive other living things as sentient beings, but rather objects they perceive them as objects that are either of use to them, or are not.

This is actually something that shows up very well on brain scans, as the only areas of the brain that usually activate in sociopaths when they are shown other people in emotional situations are the visual cortex and areas related to raw image processing.

There are generally two types of sociopaths.
Psychopaths: These are sociopaths who are ill adapted to society internally and usually engage in violent or pathological criminal activity, for example, most serial killers and some con artists.

Functional Sociopaths: These are individuals that indeed lack the ability to empathize with others and so on, but are well adjusted and have socially accepted drives in life. For example, they would most often usually be found amongst politicians, doctors, and lawyers. It's argued that functional sociopaths are needed in life because they tend to be good leaders.

And for those who are interested...

Hitler, as horrible as he was, was likely NOT a sociopath. However Saddam very likely was.

As I see it, NT's generally don't care to define their terms, nor do they care whether they get their facts right. What's important to them is that spectrum of words they use is interesting and positive and that whatever data is contained can be easily ignored. In my experience, this also has unfortunately been applied to the interpretation of scripture.

The phrase "reject societal norms" is incredibly vague. It could mean that they don't know them, that they don't follow them, or something else entirely. It isn't so much incorrect as it is meaningless.

Are they social cattle?

"Are they social cattle?"

Who? What are social cattle?

If we're talking about NT's, I don't consider their communication to be unintelligent, but rather to be based on standard practices and assumptions and to use emotions culturally associated with words more than their actual definitions. They also tend to increase their control of their environment through socialization.

If we're talking about sociopaths, ummm......no....more like the mountain lion who eats the cattle and risks getting shot.

If we're talking about aspies, we are not very social, and have comparable intelligence to NT's, but may very often find ourselves trapped in a world designed for social people.

Some people may find the term "social cattle" offensive.

No matter how important they deem themselves, they and their (ignorant) opinion is as unimportant as any other ignorant assumption.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buqtdpuZxvk[/youtube]

I guess this applies to me then.

The funny thing though is that I try to tell people I'm not normal and they won't believe me (unless I start to lose it and get really violent and heatrless with people). Which makes me extremely irritated when normal people brag about how weird they are and then they snicker at me for being "normal". I'm always around normal people bragging about how they're so dorky, or geeky, or weird or crazy. I cant effin stand it!! !

Which makes me want to tell them are the f*cked up things about myself just to prove I have them beat!

Mmm, I've had the sociopath accusation levelled at me (by my estranged wife of all people) and after researching the matter, I'd disagree. Many sociopaths are egocentric and only care about the fulfilment of the self. They'll be actively anti-social, charming, disruptive, destructive and appealing - anything to further their own goals. For the most part we just keep ourselves to ourselves without dragging others into it.

Ahhhh.....the good ole' American religious conservatives...my favorite type of "conservative".


There are so many examples of the bats**t lunacy of some of these people, I don't know where to begin. That said....one example just came to mind.

Many religious conservatives are so irrational, they seem utterly oblivious to things they do and say which only serve to undermine their own self-alleged causes and convictions.

For example...I remember watching the "March for Life" (the annual "prolife" rally in DC) on C-Span a few years ago.

The whole thing had less to do with abortion and much more to do with a hatefest against gays, atheists, "darwinists", those with non-Judeo-Christian spiritual/religious beliefs, "socialists", liberals and other groups these odd little time-warped people love to demonize.

They were acting as though no gay, liberal, socialist, atheist, etc..... prolifers exist.

While i'm 100% prochoice myself....I can assure you there are plenty of non-judeo-christian, atheist, gay, liberal, etc....prolifers.

I would've felt pretty alienated and insulted if I were a prolifer who also happened to be gay or whatever. You would think these idiots would want as many people on their side as possible if they REALLY care about the unborn. But they just can't help running their mouths about every fringe and whack-job belief they hold and then they wonder why so many "liberals" (who often happen to be other MORE MODERATE AND RATIONAL conservative christians) think they're downright insane, stupid, or both.